WELCOME TO SHALEM COLLEGE

If you could say “game changer” in Hebrew, it would probably sound like “Shalem.”
In a country in which higher education has historically emphasized specialization, Shalem College is pursuing a bold alternative: the cultivation of citizens for lives of influence and service, and not merely careers.

After all, Israel isn’t just any country.

The myriad, complex, even existential challenges Israel faces require a generation of leaders, in every area of public life, whose perspectives and positions are informed by the study of the great ideas of the Jewish and Western traditions, and whose character and commitments reflect the principles on which their nation was founded.

Great nations need great colleges. So we built one.

Students

achievement, ambition, and a commitment to their country

Some arrive with a clear sense of purpose, others develop it here. What all Shalem students share in common is a desire to make a difference, and the character, intellectual ability, and record of service that ensures they will.

Fekade Abebe

As an only child, Fekade was exempt from service in a fighting unit, but insisted on serving in one of the IDF’s most elite combat-engineering battalions nonetheless. Afterwards, he was recruited by Israel’s Security Agency to work undercover in Arab countries. Now Fekade focuses on transparency: One of the leaders of a Shalem-student-founded economic advocacy organization, he provides MKs with the data necessary to make informed policy choices.

Shai Or

For her national service, Shai spent a year assisting Ethiopian immigrants at an absorption center, and another teaching American Jews about Israeli culture. She then studied Jewish and Western texts at the leadership academy Ein Prat. A determined believer in the importance of difference, dialogue, and mutual respect, she now works for an innovative Jerusalem initiative that coordinates and films rendezvous between Israelis of distinct religious, ethnic, and ideological backgrounds.

Mordy Miller

Mordy is a passionate writer, whose hobby currently takes the form of a blog about the intersection of current events, philosophy, and Jewish thought—the subject of his major at Shalem—and boasts nearly 50,000 followers. He is also a regular contributor to the popular website 929 Together, which offers original interpretations of every chapter in the Bible, uploaded and studied daily by hundreds of thousands of Israelis of all ages, religious backgrounds, and political opinions.

Hannah Rubenstein

Hannah aspires to bring about a sea change in Israel’s educational system, one that empowers female students to feel a sense of ownership over traditional Jewish texts. She’s unfazed by controversy: Unlike most women in the religious-Zionist world, she opted to serve in the army. And during her junior year, she co-organized the second-annual student conference on politics and society, for which she brought top-tier politicians, journalists, and public figures from across the ideological spectrum to address the standing-room-only crowd.

Noam Tiran

Noam spent a year volunteering for an emergency-services organization in Sderot before serving in Maglan, the elite IDF unit that carries out commando missions behind enemy lines. A veteran of two wars—Operations Pillar of Defense and Protective Edge— Noam then continued his service to the country in a different capacity: as coordinator for Ma’ahal v’Migdal, a program that places recent army graduates in outlying farms in Israel’s South, where they learn hothouse agriculture, protect Jewish-owned land from vandalism, and study Zionist texts.

Amir Bet Arye

After serving nearly five years in a special-forces unit specializing in reconnaissance, Amir rose to the rank of deputy company commander. Today, this self-described “average kibbutznik” is a reserve officer in the IDF's elite alpine unit. Alongside his studies, Amir co-founded a watchdog organization that seeks to expose groups that portray themselves as human-rights organizations, but instead focus their efforts largely on delegitimizing Israel and the IDF in the international arena.

Academics

breadth, depth, and fluency

A Shalem education compels students to encounter ideas that once seemed impossibly difficult, and to challenge both their own and others’ points of view. It teaches, in other words, not just subjects, but the skills essential for leadership.

Core Curriculum The study of Jewish and Western civilization’s seminal texts, designed to cultivate active, influential citizens for a modern Jewish state. learn more

Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies A grounding in the history, theology, politics, demographics and culture of Muslim societies, alongside an insistence on mastering the languages they speak. learn more

Philosophy and Jewish Thought A deep engagement with the ideas that shaped the modern Jewish state, and states the world over. learn more

Faculty

scholar-practitioners and master teachers

A unique ability to bridge the gap between academia and the world outside the classroom, and place students’ learning in the context of the most pressing issues facing Israel today.

Eran Lerman

Ruth Gavison

Assaf Inbari

Scholar of Zionism and Hebrew literature, and author of an award-winning history of the kibbutz movement

Citizenship

A college in the service of the Jewish state

At Shalem, the belief that service is a privilege permeates students’ learning. Through a comprehensive, hands-on, four-year program, students gain the knowledge, skills, and experience they need to invest the concept of leadership with real meaning.